Featured Image: Fortuna Düsseldorf
German football club Fortuna Düsseldorf is set to continue its ‘Fortuna for all’ initiative into the new season, with a further four free games available to fans.
Fortuna first announced plans to offer free entry to selected games at the 54,600-capacity Merkur Spielarena in April last year, with the 2023-24 season acting as a trial period.
Following the success of the free games last season, a further four have been announced for the upcoming campaign.
There were 350,000 ticket requests for the three free games, with demand exceeding supply by five times. The scheme also helped to reduce the number of ‘no-shows’, and 70% of guests that had not been to the stadium said they would like to come back in an end-of-season survey.
Even with the three free games last year, ticketing revenue increased by 28% while 19% more season tickets have been sold ahead of the 2024-25 campaign.
The initiative is also having an impact on other areas – revenue from sponsorship has increased by 45% and merchandising has jumped by 44%. The club has previously said that it would expand the free games if more sponsors would help to support the initiative.
“We have been able to win over companies and sponsorship volumes that would not have been conceivable in this form without ‘Fortuna for all’,” commented Fortuna chief executive Alexander Jobst.
Fortuna ended last season in third place in the second-tier 2.Bundesliga, just missing out on promotion.
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